A Christmas Carol with Tom Riddle
by Karen Weasley
Summary: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition: Tom Riddle runs into an old friend from his Hogwarts days who tries to convince him that the war is wrong. Tom's friends then try to prove to him that she is right. AU and based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.


**Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition: round 13. This round was whatever we wanted to write. My optional prompts were Nightmare, "Even death has a heart."-Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, and Truth. I hope you enjoy (this one does have a Christmas theme to it)!**

_**A Christmas Carol with Tom Riddle**_

Tom Riddle Jr. stalked the streets of London. The hood of his cloak was pulled far down over his face so that all that could be seen was his smirk of pride at the desolation and destruction all around him. His quest to conquer everything was going well, and even the pesky Christmas season had not been able to give the light side any new hope. His feet slowly carried him from wizarding London into the muggle world.

Here, he could see signs of the Christmas spirit; every house was covered in strings of lights, tinsel, and garland that shone in the gathering darkness. Tom sneered as he saw muggle children busily building a snowman before their parents called them in for the night. It was no secret that Tom Riddle hated Christmas and everything about it which was why he was wandering around muggle London instead of being tucked away at Malfoy, Lestrange, or any other manor of his followers. They were all busy with their Christmas parties.

While Tom had been brooding over the image of his followers enjoying a night of eating, drinking, and celebration, his feet had successfully carried him away from the lights and cheer of Christmas and into an alleyway of poor apartments and shifty taverns. It was only when he heard a sound ahead that he paused in his travels.

He tilted his head slightly; he thought he had heard a woman scream and a scuffle not far ahead. He sneered as he imagined some muggle robbery in progress and decided to go and watch. As he rounded the corner where he had heard the sound, he did indeed see a woman pressed against the brick wall with a burly man busily digging through her small handbag.

"What's this then?" the man demanded as he pulled a long stick from her bag: a wand!

Tom hissed as he realized that this muggle was threatening a witch; what right did he have to even touch someone so superior? Tom flew down to the pair and blasted the man away with a simple flick of his wand. He turned to face the woman and leaned forward to catch her as she slid down the wall in shock. Chancing a glance down at the figure in his arms, he noted that this woman was beautiful. Normally immune to such things, Tom was surprised by how much her looks had struck him. He gently cupped her chin and turned her face to his.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

"Y-yes," the woman gasped. "Th-thank you; I don't see much of our kind down here."

"I can see why," Tom sneered. "Why would a witch live in a place like this?"

"Safety," the woman replied in a whisper. "I'm not safe in our world…I'm hardly safe in this world either." She looked up at him and tried desperately to see under his hood. "My name is Liana, by the way."

Tom sucked in a breath as the name touched a place in his chest long forgotten. "Liana…" he whispered. "As in Liana Nieson?"

Liana gasped and pulled away from him, backing against the brick wall again. "How do you know that? Who are you?" she demanded, clutching at her wand.

Tom slowly stood up and raised his hands to prove he would not hurt her. He carefully lowered his hood and met her eyes calmly. "Are you telling me you've forgotten me?" he smirked.

"Tom!" Liana gasped in shock. "I thought you had disappeared!"

Tom shook his head. Of course, he had been gone for years and returned under his new name, so her shock was unsurprising. "I was only traveling," he told her. "I had to learn some things. You are the one that disappeared; summer before sixth year, I believe?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I had to escape my parents," she muttered. "I couldn't stay…Father would've killed me, and no one would help me! I ran away, and the only time I go back is for work."

Tom's lip curled at the mention of the horrible muggle man that would hurt his own daughter just because she was magical. "Where do you work?" Tom asked.

"I help at St. Mungo's," Liana replied with a sigh. "There are so many people that need help…I couldn't just sit and do nothing with all the pain out there. What about you? How have you been surviving the war?"

"By being in charge of it," Tom grinned evilly. "Surely you've guessed by now that I am Lord Voldemort. You knew I wanted revenge on my father and all other muggles who think they are better than us."

Liana's face drained of color. "You…you're responsible for all those people in pain!"

Tom shrugged. "They shouldn't resist me. Besides, my followers have orders to only hurt those that directly oppose them."

"Then kindly explain the women and children I see every day!" Liana hissed through clenched teeth. "Please Tom…stop this! You don't know how much damage this war is causing. Please stop!"

"No, Liana," Tom replied sharply. "If people do not want to be harmed, they should follow me without question. I will not stop because you tell me to. No one has that power."

"I don't know what happened to you, Tom Riddle, but I do know that this isn't the you I remember," Liana whispered. "Merry Christmas, Tom."

With that, she turned on her heel and marched away from him towards one of the apartment buildings. Tom looked after her for a moment before storming away himself.

He was angry; he had not actually felt any emotions for so long, and he cursed the chance meeting that had caused this breech in control. Without truly thinking, he disapparated back to Malfoy manor where he knew Lucius and Edward would be waiting.

"Liana Nieson…" Lucius muttered. "Never thought we'd hear from her again."

"Was she just as gorgeous as when we were in school?" Edward asked with a grin.

"Why do you even care to know?" Tom replied sternly. "You are a married man."

"I'm asking for you," Edward shrugged. "Lucius and I both know how much you liked her in school."

"I most certainly did not," Tom replied sharply.

"You liked her as much as you used to like Christmas," Lucius insisted. "Don't you remember our fifth year?"

Tom's lip curled again.

"Fine, I'll show you," Lucius smirked and hurriedly placed his wand to Tom's temple and pulled away a strand of memory. He placed the memory into his Pensive that sat nearby before dragging Tom over and forcing him into it.

Together, the old friends landed in the middle of the Hogwarts' grounds during Christmas. The ground was covered in snow, but they were silent except for the solitary boy walking by the lake.

"Remember this?" Lucius asked with a smirk. "We all went home for Christmas, and you thought you were here alone, so you went for a walk on the grounds. But you weren't alone, were you?"

Tom ignored Lucius and stared at the edge of the castle where he knew someone was about to emerge. Sure enough, a girl came walking around the corner and headed for the lake where the boy was staring into the icy water.

"We talked for hours," Tom whispered with the hint of a smile playing at his lips. "She was the first person besides you and Edward who was actually nice to me. She understood how I felt…and I cared about her. She was so sweet and beautiful…I was hooked."

"You dated didn't you?" Lucius asked.

Tom hesitated for a moment. "Yes we did. We kept it secret, but we were together until that summer…" The smile faded from Tom's face. "She disappeared without a word, and that was the end of my heart. She was the only one who could ever touch it, so when she was gone, I closed it off."

As the memory faded around them, Tom felt a jerk and was suddenly standing again in the drawing room of Malfoy manor. He hurriedly turned away from his followers and passed the sleeve of his cloak over his eyes: pesky memories! "Never do that again!" Tom hissed at Lucius. "I don't want to remember anything!"

"Your turn," Lucius sighed turning to Edward.

Edward grinned and hurried forward. "Alright then, we're going to St. Mungo's!"

"Why?" Tom asked, wrinkling his nose.

"I'm going to show you what Liana was trying to tell you about earlier."

"How? She just got home; she won't be back in for hours," Tom pointed out.

Edward chuckled and pulled a time-turner from the inside of his robes.

"Where did you get that?" Lucius laughed.

"Nicked it from work," Edward replied. "I thought it might come in handy. Alright then, Tom, let's go have a look."

He turned the pendent eight times clockwise and grabbed Tom's arm. Everything swirled around them until Tom could finally see the outline of a nurse's station. When everything stopped spinning, Tom looked around and spotted Liana rushing between rooms on the floor with various potion bottles and charts loaded in her arms.

"This is what she does all day?" Tom asked in awe as she hurried around.

"All day every day," Edward nodded. "Sometimes she even does multiple shifts."

"How do you know that?" Tom asked.

"Clarissa," Edward replied simply. "Now pay attention!"

"Liana, Emma needs you," one of the other nurses called. "She won't let anyone else near her."

"Alright I'm going," Liana laughed. "Just give me one minute."

"Who's Emma?" Tom asked Edward.

"Will you just watch?" Edward cried in frustration.

Liana hurried into a room on the edge of the floor. "Hello Emma, how are you, love?"

Tom gasped as he saw the child in the bed. She had to be no more than six years old…she was covered in burn marks from her face to her feet. She was sitting up in the bed and desperately clutching the blanket in her tiny hands.

"It hurts Ms. Liana," she whispered. "It hurts everywhere."

"I know sweetie," Liana soothed. "I brought you a potion that should help. I need you to drink it all for me, now."

Emma gulped down the potion and gave a face at the taste.

"I know, it's gross right?" Liana smiled. "But it will help you feel better, I promise."

"Thank you Ms. Liana," Emma muttered as she tried to lay back in the bed but winced at every movement. "What are you doing for Christmas?"

"I'm going to be here with you and everyone else," Liana replied.

"Don't you have family?" Emma asked.

"You all are my family," Liana smiled. "I love spending time with you."

"You're too pretty to be alone," Emma pointed out seriously. "You should have someone to go home to."

Liana's eyes shone with tears as she smiled. "I have you, and that's enough of a gift for me. I have to go now, but I'll be back to see you later. Try and get some sleep, ok?"

Emma nodded and closed her eyes as Liana left the room.

Tom stared down at the little girl and felt his long shut-up heart breaking at the sight of her tiny body in so much pain. "What happened to her?" he whispered.

"Her family was killed in an attack on the town," Edward replied sadly. "It was a raid for fun…they just happened to be in the way. They killed her parents, but she was hiding. Still, they set the house on fire and cursed it down to the ground. She was found underneath the rubble."

"Who led that raid?" Tom growled.

"Rodulphus," Edward replied tersely. "It was him and his group of madmen. It was a nightmare," he shuddered. "Lucius and I found the town and brought the survivors in."

"But…I gave orders to not harm the innocent!" Tom roared. "Especially innocent witches and children!"

"Welcome to the truth of the war, Tom," Edward muttered. "Welcome to the truth."

Tom cursed and returned his stare to the little girl. "Will she live?"

"Don't know," Edward sighed. "They don't have enough knowledge to cure cursed burns. She might make it, but the odds are not in her favor."

Tom sniffed and swept out of the room and saw Liana leaning against the wall crying into her arm. "Liana!" Tom cried reaching out for her. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! They weren't supposed to hurt her! I'm sorry!"

Edward seized his arm and turned the time turner back.

Tom landed in the drawing room of Malfoy manor sobbing openly.

"Should we get Bellatrix?" Lucius asked with a glance down at Tom.

"I think we should," Edward sighed. "We need to be sure it sticks."

"My turn?" Bellatrix asked as she entered the drawing room.

"Good luck," Lucius nodded.

Bellatrix knelt beside Tom and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to show you the future."

Tom swallowed and closed his eyes, allowing Bellatrix to take control of his mind. When he opened his eyes, he saw himself standing alone in the center of destruction. He saw hundreds of witches and wizards lying dead upon the battlefield including Albus Dumbledore, the Minister of Magic, and others. He turned again and saw his best friends Lucius and Edward also lying dead next to their wives. With a gasp, he turned away from the horrible battle site.

"Bellatrix!" he called. "Show me the hospital. What happened to Emma?!"

The scene swirled and showed him a cemetery. "NO!" he cried upon seeing the gravestone. "Not that darling child! What about Liana? Where is she?"

The scene swirled and showed him Liana barely alive crawling towards himself upon the battlefield. "Tom…help me!" she croaked.

He watched as his future self sneered and pulled out his wand.

"NO!" he shouted and Bellatrix pulled him from her vision with a yank. "Please tell me I can change that!" he begged her.

"You can always change the future, Tom," Bellatrix whispered. "You just have to want to."

Tom nodded and hurried to the door. "Thank you," he said softly. "I needed to see that."

Bellatrix nodded with a smile. "You're welcome, now go and see her."

Tom nodded and hurried away. He landed at the doors of St. Mungo's just as Liana would be getting to work. It was then that he remembered Emma and how she was alone. He swept to the nearest shop and purchased the softest and most huggable teddy bear he could find. He then returned to the hospital just in time to catch Liana.

"Tom what are you doing here?" she asked in shock.

"I'm so sorry for everything I've done," he sobbed. "I can't believe all the damage I've done because of my selfishness. I want to help you…I want to save all the people in the hospital. I can save them…even little Emma."

"How do you know about-"

"It doesn't matter," Tom cut across her. "I just want to help."

Liana beamed and gestured for him to follow her inside. "I knew you were still in there."

"How could you have known?" Tom asked. "I was so cold and evil…some even say I was worse than Death himself."

"Even death has a heart," Liana replied simply. "This is Emma's room," she said pointing to the door.

Tom quickly entered the room and smiled down at the tiny child. "Hello Emma. I'm a friend of Ms. Liana's."

"Hello," Emma replied with a smile.

"I brought you a Christmas present," Tom grinned as he produced the teddy bear.

Emma squealed and reached for the stuffed animal. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried desperately hugging the toy.

"You're welcome," Tom smiled. "We're going to get you well again…and then we'll find you a safe home, alright?"

"Can I live with you and Ms. Liana?" Emma asked eagerly.

"Oh Emma, I can't-" Liana began, but…

"Of course you can," Tom nodded. "We'd be glad to take you, wouldn't we dear?" he asked with a smile over his shoulder at Liana.

"Y-yes of course we would!" Liana sobbed.

Tom moved to hold Liana's hands in his. "I abandoned you once…I don't plan on making the same mistake twice. I love you, Liana…for a time I forgot just how much I love you. But now, I want to fix my mistakes, and you're the only one who can help me. Will you stay with me?"

"Of course I will!" Liana replied, beaming. "I love you, Tom...I always have."

Emma giggled from behind them, and Tom turned with a grin of his own. "What are you laughing about?" he teased her.

In reply, Emma grinned from ear to ear and said, "God bless us, everyone!"

_**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!**_


End file.
